Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Eurovision Song Contest 2005
Awakening
Dates
Semi-final	19 May 2005 (2005-05-19)
Final	21 May 2005 (2005-05-21)
Host
Venue	Palace of Sports, Kiev, Ukraine
Presenter(s)	Maria Efrosinina Pavlo Shylko
Director	Sven Stojanovic
Executive supervisor
Executive producer	Pavlo Hrytsak
Host broadcaster	National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU)
Opening act	Semi-final: The Song and Dance Company of Ukraine Military Forces, A-6 Ballet and Diezel DJ Power (Freak show) Final: Ruslana performing a medley of "Wild Dances" and "Heart on Fire"
Interval act	Semi-final: Irina Mazur's Ballet "Life" Final: Kiev Percussion Ensemble ARS NOVA, Anatoliy Zalevskiy and Ruslana performing "The Same Star"
Participants
Number of entries	39
Debuting countries	Bulgaria  Moldova
Returning countries	Hungary
Withdrawing countries	None
Participating countries     Did not qualify from the semi final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2005
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
Nul points	None
Winning song	Greece "My Number One"
← 2004 Eurovision Song Contest 2006 →

Eurovision Song Contest: Kyiv 2005
Compilation album by Eurovision Song Contest
Released	2 May 2005
Genre	Pop
Length	60:17 (CD 1) 56:54 (CD 2)
Label	EMI / CMC
Eurovision Song Contest chronology
Eurovision Song Contest: Istanbul 2004 (2004) Eurovision Song Contest: Kyiv 2005 (2005) Eurovision Song Contest: Athens 2006 (2006)
Original cover
The first of two official albums of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, showing the participation of Lebanon. (bottom row, third from right)

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place at the Palace of Sports in Kiev, Ukraine, following Ruslana's win in the 2004 Contest with the song "Wild Dances". The contest consisted of two shows: the semi-final and final, which took place on 19 and 21 May 2005, respectively. The shows were hosted by Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko. Thirty-nine countries participated, including the débuts of Bulgaria and Moldova and the return of Hungary, which was last represented in 1998.

Organizers hoped that this event would boost Ukraine's image abroad and increase tourism, while the country's new government hoped that it would also give a modest boost to the long-term goal of acquiring European Union membership.

The winner for 2005 was Greece with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou, both successful singer-songwriters in Greece. It scored 230 points, beating Malta into second place by a margin of 38 points. This was the first victory for Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest. Romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. The "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) ended up as the "Last Four", all placing in the bottom four position of the scoreboard in the final.